


Hot Mess

by Graceful_Storyteller



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Multi, Pepper just has changing priorities, and a complicated relationship with Tony, ultimately Pepper/Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-23
Updated: 2013-06-23
Packaged: 2017-12-15 21:23:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/854201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Graceful_Storyteller/pseuds/Graceful_Storyteller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>5 people Pepper 'dated' that weren't Tony Stark.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hot Mess

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as '5 People Pepper dates that Tony doesn't approve of and the 1 he does' but then I watched IM3 and couldn't bring myself to permanently split up Tony and Pepper. So here we have a fic that has Pepper with other people but is ultimately Pepper/Tony.

**Steve**

If she’s honest with herself Pepper will admit that she asks Steve out as petty revenge against Tony. She knows it will bug him, and that knowledge ignites in her an intense, perverse glee. She knows that later she will feel bad for letting herself slip to Tony’s level, for using Steve and his rippling pectorals. Right now, though, she’s _mad_ , and vengeful, and if Tony Stark things he’s the only one who can shake off their break up by pulling a pretty blonde thing then _he has another thing coming_.

When Steve walks her to her hotel room and bids her farewell with not even a kiss, Pepper sees the error in her plan. Choosing Steve over Thor or Barton might have rubbed far more salt into Tony’s wounds, but the downside of her selection is that – due to Steve’s 1940’s sensibilities – the idea of getting dessert on the first date has never once crossed his mind. Pepper knows deep down this is a good thing, that it will mitigate much of her guilt at a later date, but right now she’s disappointed that she got a bikini wax for nothing.

Pepper opens the door and sees Tony pacing the length of her hotel room. He stops, and for a moment neither of them do anything more than stare at each other. Then Pepper closes the door, Tony advances, and they kiss with the old cliché of a thousand burning suns.

In the end, Pepper gets her dessert.  

 

**Happy**

This time they’re on a break because Pepper is sick of Tony charging recklessly into danger. She wants a normal relationship with a normal boyfriend who doesn’t build weapons of mass destruction in his spare time. That’s why she asks Happy out after a month of him stumbling over his words and being interrupted half way through his attempted declarations of love. Pepper finds his persistence endearing, and although Happy isn’t her usual type she’s starting to think that might be a good thing. You can only date the bad boys for so long before you have to grow up and settle down. Bad boys and superheroes don’t make great dads. Great role models maybe – but can you imagine Superman or Batman changing a diaper and burping their kid before rushing off to fight their nemesis? She can’t, and that’s why she needs to find someone stable and smart who cares for her and will be there beside her as they raise their kids together. Happy is that person – she knows she can rely on dependable old Happy Hogan.

She lasts two months before she decides she’s not yet ready to give up on superheroes and bad boys.

 

**Bruce**

That’s not to say that she immediately goes running back into Tony’s arms. First, she attempts to seduce the recluse of Stark Tower. Ever since Bruce lost control at Mardi Gras and the Hulk caused thirty people to be injured in a stampede, the scientist has withdrawn into himself and his lab. Tony has been trying to lure him out for weeks with varying degrees of success. Pepper knows how much Tony has been relying on Bruce in her absence and knows that Bruce isn’t only hurting himself with his irrational caution. That is why she eventually bullies the physicist into going on a date with her. At first it’s just take-away in the Tower, but with time she builds up Bruce’s confidence until he is once again happy to be in a crowd. That’s when, to her utmost surprise, Bruce breaks up with her. He’s very apologetic about it but the message is clear. He’s grateful for all that she’s done but his heart belongs to another. Pepper understands that feeling. They part on good terms and she goes to find Tony. He smiles and asks what’s up. She returns the smile and tells him that she just got dumped. She asks if he wants to be her rebound, and for a minute Tony Stark is too stunned to reply. Then he’s on his feet, exuding charm and charisma, and asking if she wants Chinese or Italian. She says she doesn’t mind, but she’ll kill him if they end up at Burger King again. He laughs, and they walk out with his arm around her as if the last eight months had never happened. 

 

**Coulson**

It’s the one time she ever cheats on Tony, who is lying in the hospital in a coma. She’s so sure he’s going to die, that this will be the one time he doesn’t pull through, that his luck has finally run out. She’s a teary mess who’s taken up Tony’s old coping mechanism of drinking his problems away. She’s ruined Phil’s suit jacket but he doesn’t seem to mind. Under his calm exterior she can see that he’s also upset and wishing this was all a bad dream.

Pepper knows she can blame what she did on the bottle of expensive red wine – plenty of people have done it before – but she doesn’t. When Tony miraculously wakes up she tells him straight that she was hurting, that Phil was hurting, that she wanted to forget it all for one night. She’s sorry and it won’t happen again.

In light of his recent near-death experience Tony lets it slide, on the condition that he also gets one free pass and permission to punch Coulson next time they meet. Pepper agrees to the conditions and life moves on.

 

**Loki**

Her next date is less of a date and more of a hostage situation. Pepper is meeting a friend for lunch when Loki saunters into the restaurant and takes the seat opposite her. Pepper stares at the grinning menace who says her friend is having car trouble and asked him to take her place. She decides to play along and doesn’t attempt to subtly dial Tony’s phone until Loki is distracted by the arrival of dessert. She’s sure that he notices, that the delighted twinkle in his eye when he returns his attention to her is due to her actions, but he passes no comment and makes no move to prevent her call for help. He simply restarts his criticism of American politics, and doesn’t stop until Tony flies through a window and causes a sudden evacuation of the building. Iron Man practically vibrates with rage as he threatens dire retribution if Loki has hurt Pepper in any way shape or form. Loki grins, replies that he would never dream of hurting her, and from there commences the banter which (in Pepper’s opinion) is far too playful to be appropriate, even if Tony is only using it as a tactic to stall for time. Eventually, they engage in actual combat and Pepper runs for cover.

When the fireworks end and Loki retreats to lick his wounds, Tony concernedly asks her what Loki had wanted. She can’t resist smirking and responding that she thinks Loki was fishing for a threesome. As soon as she says it she realises that perhaps there is more truth in her joke than she had intended. That realisation makes the dreamy look that crosses Tony’s face all the more irritating, and Pepper is compelled to punch him to remove it.

She spends the rest of the day cursing herself (and Loki) for putting ideas into Tony’s head.


End file.
